Controls

If you use direct mail, one of your biggest challenges is beating a control in a head-to-head test. Here's my 7-step procedure, based on proven problem-solving methods. It works for any medium, including direct mail, prints ads and broadcast spots.

For many people, the possibility of having influence is enough to get them to donate money to a political campaign. Now unless you're very naive, you can't really think that donating anything short of huge amounts of money will allow you to the rub shoulders with the powers-that-be. That's why a membership upgrade mailing from the National Republican Senatorial Committee that's been in the mail since early 2010 works so well.

Recently, I wrote an article about the "7 Big Trends for Direct Mail in 2011" and a number of fundraisers asked about trends specific to that industry. It's a question I was happy to tackle, with the aid of our comprehensive database of direct mail, the Who's Mailing What Archive, which includes the tracking of 14 different types of fundraising mail.

Within our comprehensive database of direct mail, the Who's Mailing What Archive, we crunch the various numbers in order to find the current trends in the mailstream. Here's what we've seen so far in 2011.

“YOUR BAGS FLY FREE” is a great USP (unique selling proposition) that is so cleverly promoted on TV ads from Southwest Airlines. Now you can check out the latest direct mail test from Southwest with DMIQTV’s Peggy Hatch as your personal pilot. Here are some highlights of the episode: Both envelopes are bright Southwest yellow,…

Some fundraising packages have it all: Great copy (including a letter that employs the big copy drivers), great use of the components and great tactics. That's the case in this week's episode.DirectMarketingIQ's Publisher Peggy Hatch takes you through the package.

What messages will win? With more channels employed in virtually every marketing campaign, the sheer number of messages that prospects are getting is going up every day. How do you get yours to stand out?

In this groundbreaking session originally featured as part of the 2011 Direct Marketing Day @ Your Desk Virtual Conference & Expo, four award-winning and experienced direct marketers will discuss the big trends hitting the email, direct mail, mobile and social media spaces ... and what kinds of campaigns are likely to succeed in 2011, including using examples from their own recent campaigns that they've created for retailers, nonprofits, publishers, insurance companies, travel services and more.

Takeaways from this roundtable include:
- What kind of messages will work in 2011, across multiple channels
- How the right combination of words can make a mobile or email campaign successful
- Which techniques to use in each channel to get those coveted opens
- A rundown of the techniques and technology available today (VDP, PURLs, QR codes, etc.) that make direct mail more integrated with other channels than ever before
- Successful examples of breakthrough messages in the email, direct mail, mobile and social media space
- What kinds of creative crosses over to other channels, and what kind does not
- The future of marketing messages, 2011 and beyond

A voucher mailing by Foreign Affairs is proof that sometimes, old controls don't die or fade away, they're just successfully refashioned for today's audiences. The first one, written by the late Len Berkowe, was its circulation-building workhorse from 1982 to 2003.

Anyone who's ever had to deal with those unpleasant bills that come up when cars, plumbing systems and the like stop working right rue the day when they passed on less expensive protection offered to them. Fear, the possibility of a future, costly regret, is the key to an offer by Frigidaire to an appliance customer with a warranty facing imminent expiration. It's a package that's been in the mail for at least …